Efes rallies behind Brown, McCollum to steamroll Brose

Anadolu Efes Istanbul rallied from a 15-point third-quarter deficit to down visiting Brose Bamberg 69-58 and snap a four-game losing streak on Friday. Efes improved to 4-11, still tied for the worst record in the competition, while Brose dropped to 6-9 at halfway mark of the regular season. Brose was in complete control early and led 29-44 after 24 minutes. But first Errick McCollum and then Derrick Brown fueled big Efes runs as the hosts outscored Brose 38-9 spurt over the next 14 minutes, running away with the victory. Brown finished with 21 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals, and McCollum netted 19 points on 5-for-8 on three-point shooting. Krunoslav Simon had 11 points along with 7 rebounds and 4 assists, while Bryant Dunston amassed 10 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocks. Ricky Hickman was the only Brose player in double figures, with 10 points, while Dejan Musli made his Brose debut with 9 points and 9 rebounds.

Dorell Wright scored 6 of the first 8 points for the visitors, but Efes took the early leady behind triples from McCollum and Simon. Brock Motum and Dunston scored twice apiece as the hosts took 15-8 lead. However, Hickman nailed a triple on the other end as Brose scored the last 10 points of the first quarter, a run capped by a three-pointer from Lucca Staiger that made it 15-18. Maodo Lo's three-point play and Augustine Rubit's put-back made it 15-23 before McCollum's floater snapped a six-minute, 0-15 Brose run. Another triple from Staiger extended the lead to 9 points as Brose assumed control. Brown was the one who kept Efes close, scoring 8 points before the end of the half, but Hickman drove to the basket and Lo hit from long range as the visitors took a 29-38 lead into halftime.

Bamberg continued where it left off, scoring the first 6 points of the third quarter while holding Efes without a point for almost 4 minutes on the way to a 29-44 lead. McCollum ended the drought for Efes with back-to-back three-pointers, and after Daniel Hackett's floater, McCollum nailed another one from long range at 38-46. The momentum continued to shift with a pair of baskets from Dunston inside that cut the difference to 44-48 after 30 minutes. Efes scored the first 7 points of the fourth, including a triple from Brown, to go in front 51-48. After a timeout, Hickman snapped a 13-0 Efes run, but Simon and McCollum nailed back-to-back three-pointers as the margin increased anyway to 59-50. Musli’s three-point play gave the visitors hope, but Brown answered by scoring 8 consecutive points on a jumper and a pair of triples, opening a 67-53 margin as the hosts never looked back.

Head Coaches

ATAMAN, ERGIN

Anadolu Efes Istanbul

“We played two different games. In the first 25 minutes we played soft, with low tempo. On offense we had low field goal percentages, and we were always giving up in defensive situations. In the first half, I tried to change the tempo with bench players, but I did not get results. The bench players did not give us energy. After we went down by 15 points, I took the timeout and I asked for aggressiveness and tempo on defense, to find easy fastbreak points. And we got successful with increased aggressiveness, we found our tempo, and we won the game. In the last 15 minutes I did not make any changes, I did not want to lose the aggressiveness that I found with those five players on the court, and we got the victory.”

“Psychologically, it was not easy for us in this situation, after losing four in a row. But now we won, and hopefully it will give more confidence and more motivation to my players. I don’t know if we will be successful to reach the playoffs, but we will try to win every game.”

Players

DUNSTON, BRYANT

Anadolu Efes Istanbul

“It is important for us to get a win, and get a feeling that we can win games again. The first half was little frustrating; the ball did not want to go in and we were not really playing like a team on offense or defense. But we picked it up in the second half and proved what kind of team we can be if we play together. We improved our defense, guys were rotating and scrambling, we were crashing the boards. And on offense we shared the ball. We got the ball to the people we needed to get it to, who had mismatches. We played like a team, and if we can do that every game, we will do a lot better.”

BROWN, DERRICK

Anadolu Efes Istanbul

“It is just good to get a win, and the most important thing is to stick with it. We had a rough start to this season, and to get a win and get our momentum going is a good thing. We have been in this position too many times this year, and it was time to get over the hump. We are a better team than we showed. Unfortunately we had some injuries, even I was out most of the season. But it is important to win at home. And if we continue to do that, and get on a roll, good things will happen for us.”

HACKETT, DANIEL

Brose Bamberg

“It is difficult to comprehend why we stopped executing and stopped playing defense after 25 minutes of good basketball. It is frustrating. Obviously, we have to solve this problem. Give credit to Efes for sticking with the game and beating us tonight.”